Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Abbeys, Sargents, Jellies, and Apples

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We had a perfect and artful New England weekend. On our way up to Robert Wiener's annual Apple Fest, we decided to take a day in Boston to visit Edwin Austin Abbey's “Grail Cycle” and John Singer Sargent's “Prophets” murals at the Boston Public Library. We had wandered into the Library on a whim a few years back and were blown away by these murals. This time we came prepared..and we were still blown away.

Here’s a shaky-cam 360 of the Abbey room.


And, of course, a quick stop at the aquarium. I love aquariums. And their jelly fish exhibit is, as all jelly fish exhibits are, a must-see.




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The following day: Dave Seeley rounded us up, along with Jason Felix who was in for a Magic tournament. A quick stop to poke through Dave's studio. (A place no one with sensory overload issues should enter.) Then, over to pick-up Rick Berry. Rick had just finished packing up a crate of work to be shipped to the Lucca Festival where he'll be exhibiting and painting with Phil Hale. If you’re in Italy at the end of October, you should go so that we, who are far away, can be envious.

Finally, we were off to the main event: Robert Wiener's annual Apple Fest -- where we ran around Robert’s backyard picking, eating, and squeezing as many apples we could shake a strange, extra long, lacrosse-like stick at. Robert also has one of the most extraordinary collections of science fiction and fantasy art imaginable. It is overwhelming. After an hour or so you are left unable to absorb more and left realizing there are days, literary days, worth of viewing left. It was a fantastic time. A huge thanks to Robert! I wish it could be Apple Fest every weekend. 2010, we leave more time for the artwork and break out the apple cannon.

(Currently: Eating apples and peanut butter for dinner as I type....emmmmm.)

6 comments:

Jason Pruett said...

you live an amazing life. thank you for posting and showing us what we're missing out on. - it's like watching MTV's Cribs - "I didn't even know that existed 5 minutes ago - but now I want one." :)

Saskia said...

I wonder if there's a decent book on those Abbey Murals? I'd like to have a closer look at them

Irene Gallo said...

Saskia - I don't know of a book on these murals, although I haven't checked in a while. It's a shame. They're stunning.

Jason - it all looks good when you weed out the boring stuff. Trust me, there is _tons_ of boring stuff. ;-)

Jason Pruett said...

your life is boring? well - I'll stop wanting to be you. Back to wanting to be Peter de Seve. :)

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